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Secret Lives of Ants
In the great naturalist tradition of E. O. Wilson, Jae Choe takes readers into a miniature world dominated by six-legged organisms. This is the world of the ant, an insect that humans, as well as most other life forms, depend upon for their very survival.
Easily one of the most important animals on earth, ants seem to mirror the actions, emotions, and industries of the human population, often more effectively than humans do themselves. They developed ranching and farming long before humans, and their division of labor resembles the assembly lines of automobile factories and multinational enterprises. Self-sacrifice and a finely tuned chemical language are the foundations of their monarchical society, which is capable of waging large-scale warfare and taking slaves. Tales of their massacres and atrocities, as well as struggles for power, are all too reminiscent of our own. The reality of ant society is more fascinating than even the most creative minds could imagine. Choe combines expert scientific knowledge with a real passion for these miniscule marvels. His vivid descriptions are paired with captivating illustrations and photographs to introduce readers to the economics, culture, and intrigue of the ant world. All of nature is revealed through the secret lives of the amazing ants. In the words of the author, "Once you get to know them, you’ll love them."
Easily one of the most important animals on earth, ants seem to mirror the actions, emotions, and industries of the human population, often more effectively than humans do themselves. They developed ranching and farming long before humans, and their division of labor resembles the assembly lines of automobile factories and multinational enterprises. Self-sacrifice and a finely tuned chemical language are the foundations of their monarchical society, which is capable of waging large-scale warfare and taking slaves. Tales of their massacres and atrocities, as well as struggles for power, are all too reminiscent of our own. The reality of ant society is more fascinating than even the most creative minds could imagine. Choe combines expert scientific knowledge with a real passion for these miniscule marvels. His vivid descriptions are paired with captivating illustrations and photographs to introduce readers to the economics, culture, and intrigue of the ant world. All of nature is revealed through the secret lives of the amazing ants. In the words of the author, "Once you get to know them, you’ll love them."
184 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2012
5 people are currently reading
312 people want to read
About the author
Jae Choe
5 booksJae Choe is a university chair professor at Ewha Womans University, South Korea, where he is also director of the Natural History Museum and the Research Institute of EcoScience. An award-winning author, his books include The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids and The Evolution of Mating Systems in Insects and Arachnids.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 11, 2018
This very scholarly, but readable book explores the lives of ants that have fascinatingly similar correlations with our own. Ants farm, have cities, infants' nurseries, form armies and are intelligent in a way science cannot explain. The physical basis of our intelligence also cannot be explained.
However, this book does go some way to exploring a distributed, shared intelligence where all individuals are part of a single mind, yet still have autonomy. Ants foraging individually are, like bees, able to tell other ants where to go. One ant might help another with a burden whereas other ants might choose not to do so. It is as if all ants are physically individual neurons of a single brain, but each neuron can fire on it's own which might trigger actions in other neurons, or might not.
Science has been able to describe the brain and all it's physical workings much as any other organ. It has also been able to describe various functions in particular areas. So far though, no one has been able to find a physical base for intelligence, character and personality. So much as we might go on about big brains v small ones (which is ridiculous, if there was any correlation at all elephants and blue whales would be running the world and cockroaches would be extinct) we still have no idea how or where intelligence is produced.
There is also the issue that scientists cannot resist measuring the intelligence of non-humans against human standards. They give animals tests and say it is more intelligent if it can solve a puzzle set by them they would not find in nature. Maybe that makes the animal more pliable, more able to think outside the box, but then maybe its environment means it has to do that and that an animal that cannot solve human puzzles has less need of a pliable problem-solving ability and needs one that is more dedicated to its environment. As ants do.
I remember reading of a test where things flashed up on the screen and the pigeon subject had to hit a lever according to what it was and were then rewarded with a nugget of food. They did better than the Harvard university students. However, when the students were rewarded with M&Ms their performance outstripped that of the pigeons. What does that say about intelligence tests and those who set and interpret them?
This book will have you thinking. It will make you wonder where the basis of farming, cities and armies really comes from. Was it the planting of grain and needing to stay around (in permanent dwellings with store rooms) and the consequent diversification of the jobs people, previously hunter gatherers needed to do? Or is it somehow lodged as a method of organisation in our lizard brains, something that resides in the oldest part of our minds that got recalled, by different groups, when the conditions were right?
However, this book does go some way to exploring a distributed, shared intelligence where all individuals are part of a single mind, yet still have autonomy. Ants foraging individually are, like bees, able to tell other ants where to go. One ant might help another with a burden whereas other ants might choose not to do so. It is as if all ants are physically individual neurons of a single brain, but each neuron can fire on it's own which might trigger actions in other neurons, or might not.
Science has been able to describe the brain and all it's physical workings much as any other organ. It has also been able to describe various functions in particular areas. So far though, no one has been able to find a physical base for intelligence, character and personality. So much as we might go on about big brains v small ones (which is ridiculous, if there was any correlation at all elephants and blue whales would be running the world and cockroaches would be extinct) we still have no idea how or where intelligence is produced.
There is also the issue that scientists cannot resist measuring the intelligence of non-humans against human standards. They give animals tests and say it is more intelligent if it can solve a puzzle set by them they would not find in nature. Maybe that makes the animal more pliable, more able to think outside the box, but then maybe its environment means it has to do that and that an animal that cannot solve human puzzles has less need of a pliable problem-solving ability and needs one that is more dedicated to its environment. As ants do.
I remember reading of a test where things flashed up on the screen and the pigeon subject had to hit a lever according to what it was and were then rewarded with a nugget of food. They did better than the Harvard university students. However, when the students were rewarded with M&Ms their performance outstripped that of the pigeons. What does that say about intelligence tests and those who set and interpret them?
This book will have you thinking. It will make you wonder where the basis of farming, cities and armies really comes from. Was it the planting of grain and needing to stay around (in permanent dwellings with store rooms) and the consequent diversification of the jobs people, previously hunter gatherers needed to do? Or is it somehow lodged as a method of organisation in our lizard brains, something that resides in the oldest part of our minds that got recalled, by different groups, when the conditions were right?
July 8, 2021
I remember watching this video a few years ago, and being quite taken aback by the complexity of mass ant movements. Having only really paid attention to the movements of individual ants encountered shuffling around the floor of my house, I never really considered the whole “superorganism” side of ant organisation, which is expanded upon well in the book.
A really delightful aspect of this book is how Choe identifies parallels between ant behaviour and human behaviour, from the farming of mushrooms by leaf cutter ants, to the procurement of dowries for queen ants.
The military style organisation of ants, which is apparent in the Attenborough video, is quite fascinating. For example, honeypot ants have a feedforward system which means that, once they encounter food, they will run to the borders they have with rival colonies. Here, a contest of strength occurs (if briefly), serving to warm the other colonies not to press onto their territory. Meanwhile, other honeypot ants will transport the newfound food back, knowing that their path is likely to be clear.
However, other ants have developed strategies to exploit the honeypot ants’ system, by mounting full offensives against their nests, blocking exits with rocks to trap them. While this is going on, they also steal food, and potentially even larvae and younger worker ants, turning them into slaves to serve the new colony.
Definitely a very interesting overview of one of the most overlooked animals in the world - we pay so little attention to them, even though, in terms of biomass, we are nearly identical to them!
*Another really cool video -ants swarming a scorpion and rapidly killing it
A really delightful aspect of this book is how Choe identifies parallels between ant behaviour and human behaviour, from the farming of mushrooms by leaf cutter ants, to the procurement of dowries for queen ants.
The military style organisation of ants, which is apparent in the Attenborough video, is quite fascinating. For example, honeypot ants have a feedforward system which means that, once they encounter food, they will run to the borders they have with rival colonies. Here, a contest of strength occurs (if briefly), serving to warm the other colonies not to press onto their territory. Meanwhile, other honeypot ants will transport the newfound food back, knowing that their path is likely to be clear.
However, other ants have developed strategies to exploit the honeypot ants’ system, by mounting full offensives against their nests, blocking exits with rocks to trap them. While this is going on, they also steal food, and potentially even larvae and younger worker ants, turning them into slaves to serve the new colony.
Definitely a very interesting overview of one of the most overlooked animals in the world - we pay so little attention to them, even though, in terms of biomass, we are nearly identical to them!
*Another really cool video -ants swarming a scorpion and rapidly killing it
June 21, 2022
واقعا کلمه اسرارآمیز برازندهش هست 👌🏻
February 12, 2013
Thumbed through this while cataloging it. I learned more interesting things about insects in 5 minutes than in all the time I've spent viewing insect info on Discovery/Nat Geo TV. Definitely worth checking out. High detail photos on almost every page, and non-jargon explanations of how researchers carried out their experiments.
March 18, 2021
I've spent more time than I care to admit watching ants. I am particularly intrigued by the fact that the capability and complexity of ant colonies grow more-than-linearly in the number of ants (i.e the whole is greater than the sum of the parts).
Secret Lives of Ants is an accessible survey of some of the interesting aspects of ant behaviour. For example, leaf-cutter ants actually farm mushrooms by cutting pieces of leaves to give to the fungus as a fertiliser. Army ants, which I have done a lot of reading about previously, form remarkably complicated organisational units.
There is a lot of anthropomorphisation – ant behaviour is analysed by projecting it onto the human equivalent – but I think this makes the book much more engaging, even if it comes at the cost of scientific verisimilitude.
All said, it's an informative and wholesome read. Jae Choe is an expert on ants, and his passion for the subject is infectious.
Secret Lives of Ants is an accessible survey of some of the interesting aspects of ant behaviour. For example, leaf-cutter ants actually farm mushrooms by cutting pieces of leaves to give to the fungus as a fertiliser. Army ants, which I have done a lot of reading about previously, form remarkably complicated organisational units.
There is a lot of anthropomorphisation – ant behaviour is analysed by projecting it onto the human equivalent – but I think this makes the book much more engaging, even if it comes at the cost of scientific verisimilitude.
All said, it's an informative and wholesome read. Jae Choe is an expert on ants, and his passion for the subject is infectious.
January 9, 2013
Jae Choe’s Secret Lives of Ants is a nice introduction and summary of the natural history of ants. His chapters are short, well-illustrated, and full of personal experience of the ants. Most photographs are by Dan Perlman. I recommend this book for those interested in ants, natural history, and ecology.
January 7, 2018
Great photos, but few are adequately labeled to explain what behavior is depicted. Text is frustratingly superficial and overly anthropomorphic.
March 5, 2019
One of my favorite books, it’s full of an amazing and interesting information about ants.
November 30, 2018
Libricino adatto per chi di formiche sa poco o nulla.
August 31, 2019
A fantastic and mind-blowingly in-depth look at the lives of ants. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves nature and nature books. <3
November 4, 2019
The most amazing book about ants, written in popular language, by a scientist who has studied these insects. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews